The chronicles of Absent Action. Review on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Movie

I would rather dismiss Narnia as yet another kid’s movie. And not even a great one at that. The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe….well from the title of the movie itself I had the notion that this one is going to be one hell of a movie, but alas it turned out to be a mediocre one. The point here is that the movie was promoted in such a big way that one goes to the theatres with great expectations only to leave a little disappointed. The action one waits for never happens and the acting is pretty ordinary. Overall it’s not the kind of movie I was expecting.

The Plot:

The movie begins with the Germans bombarding the country of England and the Pevensie family running for shelter. Ultimately like many other kids the Pevensie siblings are sent to visit their distant relatives at some remote and secure places. The Pevensie kids are soon bored in the palace-like-house of their uncle who doesn’t like children and doesn’t like getting disturbed. To kill the time the children play around in the house and during one such game of hide and seek, the youngest of them, Lucy Pevensie, tumbles upon a large Wardrobe, which actually is the gateway to the magical world of Narnia. Soon the other three follow her into Narnia. Here they face a daunting task of rescuing the Kingdom of Narnia from the evil clutches of the White Witch. They have the assistance of the original ruler of Narnia, Aslan: the magnificent lion, in pursuing their battle against the witch.

My review:

Well, well I might have revealed the plot here but that is the most this movie has got to offer. The plot is loose and the direction isn’t up to the mark. For the director Andrew Adamson, who has The Shrek series to his credit, Narnia is definitely a let down. The movie is slow paced to begin with, and it doesn’t gather any momentum till the end. Even the battle scene is short and not that effective. The exotic locations of New Zealand and some superb visual effects can be counted as some of the positives of this movie. Amongst the actors only Georgie Henley as Lucy and Tilda Swinton as White Witch are effective and can be said to have acted well. Especially Tilda manages to give that cold stare and oh-so-witchy look every time her authority seems to be under threat. Other characters are easily forgettable, although the chemistry between the Pevensie brothers and sisters seems quiet real. The movie also fails to score on the emotional front as it does at the action and adventure front.

Narnia is the screen adaptation of C.S.Lewis’s novel. I haven’t read the book but I am sure the book must have a lot more excitement and adventure to offer than its on-screen adaptation. As always books can open the realms of ones fantasy no director can think of opening. It’s difficult to adapt the novel, but I am sure Lewis’s novel should be much better than the movie. But yes, the kids are sure going to like this one. The visual effects are superb, but then that’s the case with almost all such Hollywood movies. Therefore I cannot help but compare Narniawith Harry Potter movies and must I say that Potter movies are much better. Throughout the movie one feels that so much more action could have been included in Narnia. For example: Aslan the lion is shown all majestic, but he his role seems to be restricted a lot.

Finally:

However Narnia has a very good message to convey, that of brotherly love and sacrifice for the family. In the desperate times a family is supposed to stick together and the eldest of the family should provide the protection. On this front Narnia has been immensely successful in getting its message across. Probably this might be the reason the movie can set itself apart from other such fantasy movies. But I was disappointed nonetheless.